Issa Rae Diop (1985- ), better known as Issa Rae, is a Black American television producer, writer and director. She is best known for “Awkward Black Girl” (2011), which went viral on YouTube a few years back. She is now working on the television show “Insecure” for HBO, still in development. The main character is loosely based on her.

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At White private schools she stood out because she was Black. At Black and Latino public schools she was mocked for acting too “White”.

We know that individuals have preferences, but I’m talking the big picture. I mean the standard things like symmetry, even skin tone (without blemishes), and people who are not too skinny, not too fat, not too short, not too tall – these perfect middle of the road beauties. They have privilege. But more importantly, those who do not fit these perfect middle of the road norms are discriminated against – and we don’t talk about it. Why don’t we talk about it.

I think there is something deep here. Some prejudice that our whole society has that we don’t talk about. We celebrate beauty like crazy but we don’t talk about discrimination against the less beautiful.

I think the positive treatment of the beautiful and the discrimination against the less beautiful has a compounding effect over a person’s lifetime.

I think discrimination against the less beautiful can lead some of them toward depression, drugs, crime, incarceration. I think this is a big issue that no one talks about.

Yes, people have more to their identity then just their beauty or lack of it. But our society (Western Society) places a lot of emphasis on celebrating beauty. But how much time do we spend acknowledging that less beautiful people are being discriminated against all the time?

I say, add beauty to the intersectional graph and let’s stop pretending that it’s not a serious factor in people’s lives.